Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's floor

This was the 19th appearance of the event, after making its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Defending champion Simone Biles of the United States was aiming to become the first woman to defend their title since Nellie Kim in 1976 and 1980. Representing Italy, Vanessa Ferrari has returned for her fourth Olympic Games, hoping to leave with a medal after coming shy of bronze in 2012 and 2016. Biles qualified in second place behind Ferrari after a relatively subpar performance by her standards. However, she announced her withdrawal on 31 July 2021 due to continued mental blocks, following earlier withdrawals from the team and individual all-around finals, as well as the first day of individual event finals. == Qualification ==

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 6 qualified gymnasts: a team of 4 and up to 2 specialists. A total of 98 quota places are allocated to women's gymnastics. The 12 teams that qualify will be able to send 4 gymnasts in the team competition, for a total of 48 of the 98 quota places. The top three teams at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (the United States, Russia, and China) and the top nine teams (excluding those already qualified) at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (France, Canada, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Japan, and Spain) earned team qualification places. The US Women's Gymnastics Olympic Team consisted of returner Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Grace McCullum; with individuals MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey. The remaining 50 quota places are awarded individually. Each gymnast can only earn one place, except that gymnasts that competed with a team that qualified are eligible to earn a second place through the 2020 All Around World Cup Series. Some of the individual events are open to gymnasts from NOCs with qualified teams, while others are not. These places are filled through various criteria based on the 2019 World Championships, the 2020 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series, continental championships, a host guarantee, and a Tripartite Commission invitation. Each of the 98 qualified gymnasts are eligible for the floor competition, but many gymnasts do not compete in each of the apparatus events. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed many of the events for qualifying for gymnastics. The 2018 and 2019 World Championships were completed on time, but many of the World Cup series events were delayed into 2021. == Competition format ==

The top 8 qualifiers in the qualification phase (limit two per NOC) advanced to the apparatus final. The finalists performed on the floor again. Qualification scores were then ignored, with only final round scores counting. == Schedule ==

The competition was held over two days, 25 July and 2 August. The qualifying round (for all women's gymnastics events) was the first day with the floor final on the third and final day of individual event finals. == Results ==

Qualifying ; Reserves The reserves for the women's floor final were: • – ''called up after Simone Biles' withdrawal'' Practically, this also means that both gymnasts would be awarded the same rank, which is very rare today, and this is the first time since 1996 to have a tie on the podium in men's and women's artistic gymnastics when current Olympic-tie-breaking rules took effect at the 2000 Sydney Games. Jade Carey earned the US's third consecutive gold medal in the floor event for the past three Olympics. Vanessa Ferrari at the age of 30 finally got her Olympic medal on floor, after placing 4th at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. She scored third highest in the floor final at the 2012 London Olympics, but the tie-breaking procedure worked against her to rank her fourth and out of the medals in the standings. == References ==